Fifty of the enemy
fighters broke off from the armada but made no move towards the CPU's. They
began to position themselves around the perimeter of the continent.

"I want an equal
number of fighters on those ships. If they try something, act
accordingly."

Dot scrutinized the 3-D
map of Floating Point that appeared before her, "Do you have those codes,
Phong?"

"They are programmed
in, my child."

"I don't like this
one bit," Dot hissed, "But we have to show that arrogant null-face we
mean business."

Several cargo ships had
landed on one of the upper and lower tiers of the Point. Soldiers resembling
scurrying ants unloaded large machines and crates. Dot sighed as she watched
them. A rocket cycle bearing General Ashar descended towards the activity.

"Ashar coming
through," Specks suddenly said.

The image that appeared
was of Ashar on a rocket cycle being piloted by a cowering binome. "I see
you have chosen not to attack us. Does this mean you realize you can't win?"

"I seem to remember
that we have the upper hand."

Ashar laughed, "If
you wish to believe that. My troops will begin the immediate occupation of the
sectors. You will hear from me within the millisecond. You still have a chance
to give yourselves up. What is your answer?"

There was a rumbling
groan, like an ancient giant awakening from a yearlong sleep. The upper tier
over the enemy command center flashed with a white light, then began to
plummet. The fall seemed to take seconds but it was over in a nano. The upper
tier smashed into the edge of the lower, sending both tiers and all who were
atop them, crashing into the Data Sea.

A shocked silence filled
the airways. General Ashar stared impassively at the destruction.

"I'm impressed, Ms.
Matrix," he finally said, "and it takes a lot to impress me. I have
not in all my battles seen a Command.com so ruthless. Perhaps you don't have to
surrender. Daemon could use someone like you in her army --, "

Dot closed the
connection. The War Room remained silent, even after Dot walked away from the
consol and into her office. It was only after the door closed that she burst
into tears.

* * *

Until that nano, General
Ashar was bored.

He was an old programmed
soldier. Battles used to mean something in his day. Expert military strategists
matched wits in an often-desperate attempt to attain the ultimate victory.
Since being appointed the leader of Daemon's forces, winning had become all too
easy.

All the systems that they
had faced had either fallen or surrendered out right. The ones they had taken
by force had made a feeble attempt to fight honourably and had lost. Common
sense should have told them that honourable fighting did not win you battles,
especially if you were against a viral general.

It had been a minor
annoyance to find out Dot Matrix was still alive. Obviously Nemesis had failed,
but the assassin was no more his concern than Melissa was. Their contact had
been unable to verify if Hexadecimal was still alive, but then again, he knew
her Lair had been destroyed as well as the fact that his enemies had not used
her power. Ashar had not relished the idea of going against Daemon's offspring.
Perhaps Melissa had succeeded. Ashar had always thought Melissa was stronger
than she pretended to be. Daemon would deal with them both in her own sweet
time.

Ashar had expected
Mainframe to fall like all the others, until the moment the tier had started
its descent. When it was all over, he wondered if he had finally found a worthy
opponent. He had been mildly impressed that she managed to disable the systems
aboard Ravage. He hadn't been giving her idle flattery when he said
Daemon could use her. He had been without a colonel for quite some time.

Ashar watched for a
moment as the soldiers struggled in the water and shook his head, "Back to
the ship," he ordered his pilot. The terrified binome turned the cycle and
left the unpleasant scene behind.

* * *

Mouse entered Dot's
office to find the Command.com sitting at her desk. A bottle of aspirin and a
half-empty glass of water were on the desk surface.

"Sugah, are you
still getting' them headaches?"

Dot looked up, "How
did you know?"

"It ain't hard to
tell. You should see a doctor about them."

"It's all
this," Dot said. "What I just did --,"

Mouse saw the tears well
in Dot's eyes, "Aw - honey --," Mouse approached her and wrapped her
arms around Dot's shoulders while her friend cried.

"Ashar went back to
the ship. He just left those poor soldiers there."

"I'm not surprised,
the ASCII," Dot said grimly as she stood. "Mouse, have I told you how
much I appreciate your being here - and just you in general?"

Mouse smiled slightly and
felt her face warm, "Sure you have sugah, lots of times. We'd better get
back."

"Dot," Phong
said the moment they re-entered the War Room. "We count at least one
hundred more ships have broken off from the armada and are approaching the
city."

Mouse frowned at the
vid-window as Dot approached the consol.

"Power up all weapons.
Have an equal number of forces intercept."

Unexpectedly, the group
of enemy ships released hundreds of small glowing spheres from their holds.

"What's that?"
Mouse wondered.

"Specks?" Dot
turned to the binome.

"They're
unidentifiable," Specks frowned. "They're not weapons."

The globes fell like tiny
comets to shatter against buildings or the ground. They caused very little
damage.

"Wait," Mouse
said, "Zoom in on one of those things."

The vid-window followed
the descent of one of the globes until it shattered against the wall of the
Diner. What they hadn't been able to see before was that within the globes were
thousands of obsidian bugs.

Dot made a noise of
disgust, "All ships, destroy those fighters! Don't let any more of those
globes hit!"

Their forces went to meet
the enemy and the first real battle ensued. The occupants of the War Room
watched as their people shot the globes from the sky with pinpoint accuracy.
Their lead ships positioned themselves between the armada and their own
fighters and blasted any enemies that tried to act as reinforcements.

"Message coming in
from the captains, should they attack Ravage?"

"Mouse, could we get
through the Ravage's shields?"

"More than likely,
not. We'd be wasting energy."

"Tell them to keep
their eyes on the Ravage, but they are not to engage it until I give the
signal."

"Yes Ms.
Matrix."

"What about the
ships on our perimeter?"

"They haven't
moved," Specks said, "Wait, Ms. Matrix, we have a new problem!"

"What is it?"

Another window showed
panicked citizens running into the streets, trying desperately to rid
themselves of the infestation. Myriads of bugs exploded from within buildings
and out of windows, from cracks in the sidewalk and sewer covers. Scurrying
about with frightening speed and clinging to the helpless sprites and binomes,
driving them out into the open.

Mouse saw something atop
the consol out of the corner of her eye, moving rapidly towards Dot's hand. She
drew her dagger, advanced across the room and stabbed it.

Dot jerked her hand back,
"What in the net!"

Mouse held up her dagger.
Although impaled, the insect still struggled crazily. It was all black, with
the exception of a red streak down its middle and wicked-looking pincers.

"Ew!" Dot
cried, "Thanks Mouse."

"Better have the lab
boys look at this, make sure it's not poison. Although I figure it probably
is."

"See if they make us
up a good old fashioned pesticide."

"On my way."

"Ms. Matrix, we're
getting panicked messages from all sectors."

Both Gavin and Ray
appeared in two separate windows, "Dot lass, there's panic on the streets!
These bugs are everywhere!"

"Don't fire at the
globes, that only spreads them!" Ray cried.

"Have your forces
separate into groups and attempt to keep everyone calm. Ray, can you do
something about this?"

"I can try,
love."

"I want two CPU's to
watch Ray's back. Gavin, have everyone proceed in an orderly fashion to where
there's water -- the beach, Energy Park, the river --,"

"Water, lass. I see
what you mean."

Dot leaned down and
removed her boot, "Has anyone seen Enzo?" With a quick violent
movement, Dot smashed the second bug that was crawling across the consol with
the heel.

"Sorry lass, no sign
of him."

"I'll keep looking,
love, don't worry I'll find him."

"That's not going to
be easy," Specks suddenly gave a cry and swatted at something on his hand.
"Oh dear."

The bug fell right in
front of Phong who rolled over it. "That was unpleasant." The old
sprite muttered.

"Specks, you
okay?"

"It bit me, but I'm
all right."

"Get down to the
infirmary."

"They won't be able
to do anything until they test the specimen," Specks said. "More
fighters are approaching the city, plus a few dozen rocket cycles."

"All forces
intercept. Try not to destroy the globes." Dot began programming her
consol, "Maybe we can figure out a way to deactivate them."

"Having a situation,
Ms. Matrix?" Dot looked up as General Ashar appeared in a window.

"This suits you to a
tee," Dot hissed.

"Very useful things
these bugs," Ashar said. "I don't normally prefer to use such
tactics. Perhaps you should examine what's going on outside." The window
closed.

Enemy transports were
dispatched from Ravage. Each transport carried a detachment of
twenty-five armour-clad and armed soldiers. These soldiers began to round up
prisoners with merciless efficiency.

"Mobilize all
transports. Keep any of the enemy transports from taking additional
prisoners."

Dot watched as Ray used
his power to clear away the bugs. The things would scatter only to converge
again on the spot.